One of the most significant difficulties facing a do-it-yourself house painter (or a professional, for that matter) is what to do with the container of paint or stain. Carrying the can by its bail soon becomes tiresome and, anyway, nine times out of ten, the can will bump into a ladder, or a knee and spill half its contents on the ground.
One solution to this problem is to suspend the can from the ladder by one means or another. The trouble is that sooner or later, you wind up in one place and the can in another so you have to climb down to reload the brush or move the suspending device risking spillage once more.
A number of attempts have been made to address these problems. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,987,231, 2,995,281; and 3,285,485 issued to Lewis, Dixon, and Bedsaul, respectively, all teach the use of harnesses or other means to suspend a paint container from the body of the painter. Lewis and Bedsaul suspend the can by its bail so that the contents are subject to the same risk of spillage as when the can is hand held. The harness of the Dixon device makes no provision for the bending and reaching that occurs during painting and, accordingly, the contents of the can are, similarly, subjected to spillage.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,051,428 issued to Schult discloses a self-leveling device for a paint container. However, the Schult device is designed to be attached to the leg of a ladder and, hence, does not accompany the workman as he/she progresses. This requires either the up and down movement of the workman to reload the brush or periodic movement of the can and the brace with the potential for spillage attendant therewith.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,125 to Emmert teaches the use of a body-mounted support for a paint container including a shoulder strap and a can supporting strut that rests against a body portion such as a hip, or the like, the can being suspended by a pair of pivots that replace the bail. This suspension device enables the can to pivot only about a single axis as if suspended by its bail and, therefore, does not make provision for the full body motion, bending and reaching, associated with normal painting activities.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,503 to Swinney discloses a body-mounted rack supported by a waist-mounted belt. The rack provides partial pivotal movement about two axes so as to maintain a vertical position. However, should the wearer lean away from the can, her/his leg will restrain possible corrective pivotal movement and then paint will become part of the external attire of the wearer.
The present invention overcomes the deficiencies of these earlier attempts. The personal paint caddy of the present invention includes a U-shaped support whose ends may be secured to the wearer's belt by means of a pair of wrap-around securing loops. These loops may be equipped with Velcro self-adhering fabric for quick attachment. A support strap encircling the wearer's neck and connected to eyelets on either side of the U-shaped support, may be adjusted to accommodate the size of the wearer in order to maintain the support substantially perpendicular to a portion of the wearer's longitudinal axis. A pair of concentric gimbal rings secured to the U-shaped support permit pivoting of the container about two axes under the influence of gravity thereby permitting the container to retain its longitudinal axis in a vertical position even though its wearer may bend or stoop at angles up to 45 degrees from vertical during the normal activity of painting.
Various other features, advantages, and characteristics will become apparent after a reading of the following detailed description.